The Ring
by animalcrackers
Summary: Draco's story about his fear of a certain object that he fears more than Lucius. Please R/R.


It first occurred to me when I was about nine years old

The Ring 

(Draco's POV- about his seventh year.)

It first occurred to me when I was about nine years old. We were walking around London, when a young women of about twenty who had been frantically searching for her missing child ran by us and swept up a young toddler who had been standing in the middle of the street. I stood there waiting for the harsh slap across the cheek that I was sure that would come, but it never came; instead the women just stood there, praising the Lord, the people, the Church and everything else that she could think of that her 'little baby' wasn't harmed. All in all, she made a fairly large scene, and anyone who was with in a block knew what had happened within twenty minutes. I stood there wondering why the toddler hadn't been hit or kicked all the while just standing, gawking at the scene the mother was making. That was until I felt it; the ring. Lucius' ring. He always wore it and I personally couldn't stand it. It was a rather large ring, with two diamond encrusted serpents woven around together to form the letter "M." He always told me that he wore it to 'ensure that the family pride lives on,' but I personally knew that the only reason he wore it was because when you got hit with it, all of the diamond would tear into your skin and cause big gash marks. That was extremely obvious to me as he grabbed my hand and let the ring tear into my tiny hand's flesh, as he pulled me along the street that day, causing me to cry out in pain. The look I got wasn't a good one and it was obvious that as soon as I got home, I'd be in for a sound thrashing. 

As we walked away from the scene, I realized that for the first time in my life that maybe beating your son _wasn't _something that all fathers did, maybe it was just **my **father. When we arrived home that night, he did in fact give me a good thrashing, only after he explained to me why that Muggle women made such a huge scene in the street (actually it was quite obvious and I criticized myself for not realizing it earlier): Muggles are weak, they are stupid, idiots who are so slow that they don't even realize it when they lose their own children; therefore, they must be exterminated, he concluded. It all made sense to me and I realized that Lucius was right; Muggles were dumb. That settled any rebellious thoughts that I had for quite sometime, but the thought that maybe I just did have a bad father and every kid wasn't beat was engraved in my mind. 

A few months later, I remember another trip to London, this time for new dress robes for me. As I undressed, I remember talking to another young boy, whose was also getting new dress robes. As we stood there, I couldn't help but notice the fact that his back was clear of any scars, and that he didn't have any imminent bruises, except for ones around his knees. I asked him what he had gotten beaten for and he looked at me in the strangest way. He replied, that he had fallen out of a tree. We didn't talk for the rest of the time and he left a little before me. When I emerged from the dressing room, Lucius' eyes were steaming and I knew I had done something wrong. When we arrived at the manor that night, he calmly explained to me that some parents didn't believe in beating their children, but I was special and that the beatings would only make my stronger. After that, he beat me so badly that I couldn't walk for three days. Worse yet, days later, when inspecting myself, I noticed a faint reddish tinge on my back that hadn't gone away even after my mum had healed me. Upon closer inspection, I found a "M" scarred into my back. From that day on, I no longer feared my father, but the ring. The ring was the sole source of fear for me. Back in my third year, when Professor Lupin was teaching us about boggarts, my didn't turn into an eyeball or a mummy like other kids, but a ring. A ring with a "M" made out of serpents encrusted with diamonds. Professor Lupin of course thought strangely of this, but I don't think that he ever figured it out. 

When my father died three months ago, I wasn't sad, but relived- that ring would never touch me again. I only went to the funeral so that I could find the ring and destroy it- then my life would be back in good order, the scars on my back wouldn't hurt anymore and no new scars would be made upon my back, arms, legs or chest. After the funeral, I searched Lucius' room high and low but I couldn't find the ring. In my rage, I destroyed the room, but calmed myself back down and went back to Hogwarts, trying to continue on with a normal life. That was until today. I received a package. Inside was a letter, from Lucius, obviously written before he died. It told me why he did the things he did and once again, re-convinced me in my beliefs that Muggles are to be hated. Inside a small box, was the ring. I took it out, inspecting it. In the sunlight, I realized something I had never known before, the diamonds weren't actually diamonds, but small shreds of glass. I took the ring and fumbled around with it. Then before turning to go back inside the Hogwarts castle, I took the ring and slipped it onto my index finger. It fit perfectly, as I knew it would. Smiling, I turned an walked back inside the castle, branded with the Malfoy M. 

So, should I write more? Stop and delete it? Please review- it would mean alot to me! 


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